User blog:Kel007/Skill Tree
Introduction In Payday 2, I often go heisting solo due to the numerous complaints about the bad players I've heard. When I reached level 51, I eventually decided to try joining an online game. To much of my surprise, the community (for the most of them) is actually friendly and encouraging. Although some hosts kick just because you accidentally broke a glass, the rest that I've met did not (seem to) mind and in fact, gave encouragement to carry on playing to gain experience and become better. With their support, I started joining more heists and started building my own skill trees while collecting feedback to further improve it. Personal Skill Builds MasterGhost: - My first specialised skill build: http://www.pd2skills.info/profile/cyan-5/ All-Rounders: - My second skill build: http://www.pd2skills.info/profile/cyan-reloaded/ - My third skill build which I consider more point-efficient: http://www.pd2skills.info/profile/cyan-revamped/ Skill Introduction Mastermind: *Cable Guy for shutting off civilians because often, more than 10 civilians are on the map and not everyone has this aced. Useful even in solo. *Combat Medic for that extra health, though it doesn't benefit Berserker Enforcers (granted, the bonus damage is also mediocre and the skill could be done away with, acing spotter instead). **The skill can be replaced with the Fast Learner instead if you have yet to reach level 100. *Basic Endurance is usually enough, but extra Endurance always helps on large maps. *Leadership is pretty self-explanatory. Though if you play with a usual team then only one of them needs to ace it. *Dominator seems useless since you still have to answer pager, but it's always a good way to get hostages during the loud part of the heist, after all your civilians ran off or are killed. Aced version increases your chances of getting a police hostage. Otherwise good to intimidate civilians from afar. *Joker has a tier bonus, might as well use it. The aced version does not seem necessary though, especially when you are unable to control your dominated hostage. *Most recommends Aced Spotter for saving their asses many times, but I prefer spotting them myself and the basic version is just a filler point. **As of my revamped version, the filler has been done away with. *Inside Man isn't unlocked since I could do with the normal costs. **Aced Inside Man may be of use if you decide to do away with Aced Combat Medic, though the insider info may not be very useful all the time. A spotter may be more preferable. *Aced Gunslinger is a nice way to get ridiculous damage from your pistols without much modifications. Most pistols are also generally accurate and I prefer using them to snipe from a distance rather than Locomotive them away. *Aced Inspire is for getting teammates from a distance (and AI if I'm solo). But generally I like the way the person shouts "Get the fuck up!". Unfortunately it doesn't work during stealth. *Stockholm Syndrome is largely criticised, but true enough that untied civilians would have ran off or else died anyway. Thus I didn't touch it. Enforcer *Die Hard, because faster armor regeneration. Because life sucks. *Underdog, filler point. *Stun Resistance, good for every situation where you are flashbanged. Technician *Basic Nerves of Steel is sufficient, but I aced it as a filler. *Aced Sharpshooter. Good for snipers and assualt rifles. *Aced Drill Sergeant. On average, saves you a minute on each drill. *Basic Hardware Expert just to repair the drill faster. With a 30% chance of self-repair, it isn't that reliable and the 3 points could be better spent elsewhere. **As of my revamped version, it has been aced as a filler since it has the most reasonable skill in that tier. *Rifleman, Demolition Man and Combat Engineer are fillers to get the tier bonus unlock, a sweet 25% headshot bonus damage. Ghost *Sprinter is the starting skill for any player wanting to expand their ghost tree. It's the most situational skill among the first tier. *Cat Burglar pretty much helps me get off high buildings. The Aced version is largely situational though I find myself often wishing I had Aced it (but I only had 120 skill points). *Cleaner if you are going for stealth and want to keep corpses out of sight. Aced so that I could hold an extra one without running to the body bag stack every now and then. *Fast Hands for stealth as well, reduces the chance of a guard spotting you while you're packing (unless you already went loud). Also allows you to retaliate faster since you don't wait so long to pack the damn loot (and you save time too). *Shinobi (at least the basic) is a definite must. Also reduces the burden of having heavier armour. *Chameleon is useful when you have loud armor and have to stay back. Seems useless at first glance, but now that it increases concealment while unmasked, there's more reason to stay unmasked and undetected. *ECM Specialist is useful for ECM chaining (not so much in solo, but I get to hack 2 ATMs, lol). *Silent Killer reduces the damage loss from suppressors. **As of my revamped version, it has been done away with. I use a suppressed pistol and a normal assualt rifle. Since the aced Gunslinger boosts the damage, this becomes less necessary. Will probably add more and change further as needed (when I have the time). Personal Skill Builds Analysis The last 2 skill builds I've came up with are as all-round and general as it could get, with skill points spread out across all 4 skill trees and only reaching far into the Mastermind tree. The general skill builds provide good utilities for survival and objectives, such as: *Team survival with Aced Inspire for fast and distant revival, coupled with a couple of medic bags *General heist completions with drill speed upgrades that will be used in most of the heists, shortening the drilling often by a minute *Personal survival with Die Hard and Hard Resistance to counter enemy engagements and flashbangs respectively *Team objectives with Aced Transporter for quick transport of goods from vault (or wherever) to van. *Good foundation for stealth attempts However, with the highly generalised skill build, it forsakes specialised skills and causes some difficulties on loud Death Wish heists (it is usable for stealth Death Wish heists). *Lower survivability without specialising in Enforcer and Technician skill trees and resulting in lower armor and health *Lower damage output (with the exception of the pistols) due to lack of Shotgun and Trip Mine upgrades. Suppressed weapon are also less up-to-par and less usable when heists go loud. *Less window opportunities during stealth attempts due to insufficient ECM upgrades or lockpicking upgrades, though this is debatable. *Lack of quick interaction without specialised skills such as ECM Overdrive, Shaped Charges and Portable Saw. Looking back at my "specialised" MasterGhost build (my first skill build), it focused mainly on team survival and objective completion, with Aced Inspire, Aced Lockpicking Expert and Aced ECM Overdrive. It is a typical skill build, but it is somewhat point inefficient as some of the skills can be changed to make way for more viability. Of course, it also depends on your play style. I prefer to have a Jack-of-all-trades build, thus I found it insufficient. Then looking back at my 'reloaded' build, some skills could easily be done away with without much impact on gameplay, leading to a more point-efficient version in the 'revamped' build. However, it is less situational and also less specialised, which may be a good or bad thing. Making A Skill Build If playing with a group of friends often, it is advisable for at least 2 of them to go specialised in 2 skill trees each with complementary skill trees, such as MasterGhost, MasterEnforcer or TechForcer. Other skill builds such as GhostForcer are less viable due to the conflicting nature of the skill trees, making one of the two skill trees essentially useless when the situation changes. Otherwise, my skill builds are more often than not enough to provide sufficient aid to the group. Of course, my skill builds are tailored to my playing style and may not fit yours, thus it is always recommendable to make your own skill build. However, there are several skills that I would consider essential in every player's skill builds. Besides the first skill in each tree, of course. *Mastermind **Basic Endurance, essential for all heists you play. Without it, you'd be running only a short distance before you stop. Granted, you may not run all the time, but when you do, you will hope you can run far. **Aced Cable Guy, essential for tying a civilian because who wants to spend 6 seconds tying them? Additional cable ties also allow you to keep more civilians under control without killing them, saving you money (from the cleaner costs) and lives (able to trade hostages). *Enforcer **Aced Transporter, essential for completing all the heists except for Mallcrasher. Why? You have to transport loot. The basic version will ensure you get more ground covered, while the aced version allows you to throw further (which also allows you to throw the goods into the van from a distance away) *Enforcer **Basic Nerves of Steel, essential for survival even if you got the ICTV. When you're interacting with something, you always have to stay at that position with limited turning positions and no way to counter-attack. This reduces the incoming damage by half when you revive someone, lockpick something, repair the drill and so forth. Pretty much overpowered. *Ghost **Aced Sprinter, essential for running fast to save a teammate or to escape area or just to retreat. With the stamina boost and recovery boost, you can run more and run faster. This becomes especially useful when transporting light goods that impede your movement but running negates it and further adds to your speed. **Basic Chameleon, essential for spotting before masking up. With loud armor or weapon, you will often be forced to stay out during stealth to avoid detection and prevent the alarm from going off. Chameleon allows you to help your teammates while staying outside. Even in stealth, it's advisable to mask up as late as possible to reduce your detection risk. Chameleon allows you to mark guards and reduces your detection risk before you mask up. Conclusion I have not finished this post, but it's not like anyone is going to read it anyway. Category:Blog posts